This invention relates generally to packing devices and more particularly, it relates to an improved restraining device or insert, used with magazines which are partially filled with TAB slide carriers, for holding the slide carriers immovable in the magazines against undesirable free movement therein.
As is generally known in the semiconductor technology industry, magazines are used to hold and store a plurality of TAB slide carriers during handling and shipment. Each of the slide carriers is used to hold a COT (chip-on-tape) component in it. The COT component utilizes TAB (tape-automated bonding) as the interconnect method and a semiconductor chip or die is bonded into a TAB tape site. The carrier magazines are generally formed of a tubular configuration having a removable cap at each end thereof and have become standardized to hold a specific number of the TAB slide carriers. For example, the carrier magazines are designed to hold 100 carriers of the 35 mm version and to hold 50 carriers of the 48 and 50 mm versions in a stacked position.
In practice, however, the carrier magazines may well be holding less than the maximum number required to fill them. As a result, there is created a void or gap in the filling of the magazines which allows the carriers contained therein to move out of their normal stacked position. Since the semiconductor dies are so intricate and delicate, such physical movement may render them to be susceptible to mechanical damage. Further the semiconductor dies can also be damaged or destroyed by electrostatic discharge (ESD) due to a rapid discharge of a charged condition.
To date, the prior art solutions to this problem have involved the use of various types of rubber-like plugs for filling the gap left in the carrier magazines. However, these prior art plugs have the disadvantage in that they may come in contact with the tape or the semiconductor dies, resulting in potential damage. While protection from such plugs could be provided by including one or more empty slide carriers inserted into the magazine, this would necessitate subsequent manufacturing equipment to identify these extra carriers, thus increasing manufacturing costs. Further, these prior art plugs suffer from the disadvantage in that they must be fashioned to different sizes for each specific quantity of slide carriers filling the magazines, thereby making assembly inefficient and expensive. For instance, there is shown in FIG. 1 a rubber-like strip 2 of the prior art which is folded into a U-shape and then inserted into a partially-filled carrier magazine 4 (FIG. 2). Finally, an end cap 6 is placed over its opened end. Each time the number of slide carriers to be placed inside of the magazine is changed, the strip 2 must be cut to a new different length and folded for insertion into the partially-filled carrier magazine. As can be seen, this is a very tedious and time-consuming procedure.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved restraining device for holding slide carriers in a magazine against undesirable free movement therein. Further, it would be expedient that the restraining device be compressible so as to accommodate a wide variation in the number of carriers to be placed in the magazine.